Loco is a blatant HQ Trivia ripoff from India

HQ Trivia has rocketed up the charts in recent months, with the live trivia game counting hundreds of thousands of players every day. The game's main draw comes from the fact that you can win real money, provided you answer all the questions correctly.

It looks like someone from India noticed just how popular HQ Trivia is, because there's now an app called Loco aimed at the Indian market that does the exact same thing.

If you're not familiar with HQ Trivia, here's a primer on how it works. The game is reminiscent of Jeopardy!-style shows, but instead of passively watching the program on your TV, you can play from your phone. The host doles out 12 multiple choice questions in real time; get them all right and you'll be able to split the daily pool prize of $2,000 with the rest of the winners. HQ usually has a larger pool on weekends and holidays — last weekend saw a $15,000 prize for 15 questions — but the format itself is the same.

As for Loco, the app is essentially a clone of HQ Trivia. Everything from the sign-up process (you'll have to register with your phone number) to the format of the show and even the quirkiness of the host is a blatant copy of HQ Trivia. The UI elements also are near-identical, with minor changes in the color scheme. Heck, the host also does shout-outs before a game begins.

Loco also lets you win real cash, with the money directly debited to your Paytm account. The game has 10 questions, and the prize pool of ₹10,000 ($150) is split evenly amongst the winners. And yes, you can invite your friends to Loco to get extra lives.

The only element of HQ Trivia that Loco hasn't thoroughly ripped off is the chat feature, but I'm sure it'll be introduced once they figure out how to do it. Of course, there is one aspect of Loco that will appeal to Indian users: as it is produced locally, you get a lot of cricket and Bollywood-themed questions.

If you're wondering, you can play HQ Trivia if you're located in India. All you need to do is sign up with your phone number and tune in when the game goes live. Sure, the timings aren't ideal — HQ Trivia is live at 1:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. IST — but if you can work around that, it's an altogether better experience. And while you may not get many Bollywood questions, you do stand to win a larger prize.